Gamila VIII, Meixiu VIII

PA 1.3

Gamila

Sneaking into Dàhé had ended up being easier than she’d feared it would be.

Following the death of Queen Olivia her army had descended into chaos. Some soldiers declared their staunch devotion to Olivia’s legacy, and continued the march north to Dàhé to help Quang’s army. Others believed her sudden and mysterious death was a punishment by the gods, abandoning the army to return to their homes and hopefully not incur further punishment. Others still remained where they were, strong personalities—mostly from among the remaining royal guard—declaring themselves King or Queen in her wake and splitting the remaining soldiers into a brief-yet-bloody civil war.

Gamila had stayed behind to egg them on a bit before following the ‘loyal’ soldiers to Dàhé, rejoining them a couple hours before they reached the city and hiding at the back as the scant fourteen soldiers were allowed into the city.

And what a depressing city it was.

Having been conquered twice in less than a month, Dàhé looked the part of a rundown city. While the walls—being the most important part of the defense—were being shored up and refurbished, the rest of the city was a crumbling mess. Houses were abandoned by civilians fleeing back into the countryside, the docks were still in ruins from when Meixiu had attacked, and walking too close to the river let you smell the decomposing bodies that had been unceremoniously dumped into the river. The remaining civilians walked the streets with shifty eyes, eyeing soldiers as they wondered which army was in charge this week, while abandoned buildings were in the process of being overgrown by reeds and ferns.

This was a city on its way out, only kept together by the army’s need of a fort, more than the citizen’s need of a city.

It was here, in this crumbling city filled with the remnants of three armies, that even after everything she’d done under Olivia’s command, that she became practically invisible.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do with that irrelevance. She was once more nobody special, just another soldier shuffled into Quang’s army, working her way up from the bottom again.

It was surprisingly frustrating, having all her work invalidated like that, even if she had succeeded in her original mission. Now she just needed to figure out what to do next.

But, it wasn’t until the Sunset army came rumbling towards the city from the north that she finally came up with a plan.

--

The city of Dàhé had three exits; one to the south, one to the north and one to the west, with the walls open to the river on the east side. Above each entrance was a stout guard tower, just big enough for a single person to fit comfortably. When they saw someone approach the city, they’d beat a drum in warning—once if it was just one person, twice if it was a group of people, three times if it were an approaching army, and continuously if it were an attack by sea. Apparently that last one was only added following Meixiu’s conquest of the city.

It was through these guard towers that Gamila planned to cripple the city’s defenses.

She arrived at the northern guard tower—the one facing the Sunset army—and began to climb her way up, on her back carrying a satchel filled with various (hopefully useful) tools to communicate with the Sunset army. Reaching the top of the ladder, Gamila pulled herself up, the guard on watch turning to look at her curiously.

“Who are you?” he asked with a frown. “And what are you doing up here? It’s not time for the guard to switch yet, right?”

“No, but I was sent to grab you,” Gamila grunted, lying through her teeth. “One of the other King’s soldiers wanted to speak with you about something. Don’t ask me what, he didn’t tell me. I’m just here to get you and hold your post until you get back.”

“I… see…?” his frown deepened at her words. “I’m sorry, but you look… Wait…” the soldier grabbed her by her arm, staring at her with wide eyes. “Lady T’ila!? Is that you!? I thought you were dead!?”

“Uh…” Gamila panicked, freezing as she realized this was the same man who’d found her when she’d faked her death. What the fuck were the chances. “…I thought I was as well?”

His grip on her arms slackened, incredulous. “What!?”

“Ah, you see…” Gamila forced a shaky smile on her face, bullshitting on the fly. “I was injured badly, as you already know. But I survived! I just passed out when you found me. Yes, but another soldier found me later and brough me to the medical tent, where I was saved! I then left north a day later, to avenge Queen Olivia!”

“I see…” the thankfully still gullible soldier looked relieved to hear her say that, but also somewhat wary. That… That wasn’t good. “But how have you healed so quickly? Your wounds were… well, I wouldn’t even expect you to be up and walking so soon!”

Gamila winced. “I, uh, I really shouldn’t be. I’m only here to cover your shift for a bit—remember, what I said when I arrived?—but I’m going to return to bedrest once I’m done here.”

The man’s frown didn’t leave his face, though it did lessen somewhat. “Well, it’s good you aren’t pushing yourself. But, ah, who did you say needed me again? I forgot, what with realizing you were alive and all.”

“Oh! It was…” shit, who had she said it was again!? “One of the high-ranking soldiers. Sorry, I don’t know his name. I don’t know why he wanted to talk to you, either—I think it was something about the loyalty of the remaining soldiers? I’m not sure, though…”

“Wait,” the soldier looked confused. “You don’t know who it is? They didn’t give you their name or anything?”

“Yeah,” Gamila sighed in a ‘what can you do’ kind of way. “You know those soldiers, looking down on us because our Queen died. He just came up to me and told me to get you—I remember he had short hair and a big nose, if that helps?”

“So, what, should I just ask around until I figure out who wanted to talk to me?”

“I guess,” Gamila shrugged. “I could take you to him, but one of us has to watch the gate and all, and I don’t really want to make the climb back up here again—I’m still recovering, remember?” she told him, making an exaggerated pained face stretching her arm around.

“Oh, uh, right!” he winced. “I should—I should just go. Make sure not to move too much, you don’t want to aggravate the wound!”

“Thank you,” she smiled at him, actually relieved—if for different reasons than he thought she was. “I’ll wait here until you return, then!”

And with that he descended down the ladder, leaving her alone in the guard tower.

Once he was gone, Gamila let out an exhausted sigh, slumping down. That had been way too close. If he’d called her out she’d have had to have killed him, and she didn’t think she could do that without causing a commotion.

But she’d managed to get him out of the way, and as such, got herself in the exact place she needed to be.

Turning to look out from the city, she squinted at the sight of the Sunset army, camped just out of range of arrow shots. She watched as shadowy figures made their way throughout the camp, too far away to see clearly but close enough to be recognizably human. Watching them, she waited, and waited, until… there!

One of the soldiers had come close to the edge of the camp, stopping to look out at the city.

Raising her bow above her head, she fired, watching the arrow wrapped in bright red ribbons fly across abandoned farmland to hit the ground somewhat close to the edge of the Sunset army. Then she did it again, and again. After the third arrow she put her bow down, squinting out across the fields to see if they had noticed—yes, there, the soldier had turned to look at the colorful arrows, looking down before turning to look up at her.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Gamila waved frantically, hoping the soldier could see her. Reaching into her bag, she dragged out a roll of linen and raised it high above her head, revealing the bright orange sun she’d painted on it.

The soldier was so far away that she couldn’t properly see what they were doing, but after a moment they turned and left, heading into the army camp.

Gamila bit her lip, frowning. She hoped they’d gotten the message, but…

Wait, there. They were back, this time with another soldier, who’s pale skin stood out compared to the dark-skinned soldiers surrounding her.

Gamila grinned, raising the painted sun above her head once more, before pointing down at the gates below.

And Meixiu, standing so far away, raised her own spear in recognition.

--

Meixiu

Arriving back at Dàhé to find out it really had been recaptured had been frustrating. The only thing that made up for it was the knowledge that the army within certainly didn’t have enough supplies to last for a full siege, what with her having ransacked the city when she took it the first time. Anything not nailed down had either been sent back to Sun’s Rest by boat or added to the supply carts her army was dragging along behind.

But that didn’t change the fact that this would be at least another month or two before she managed to starve these people out. And, sure, it wasn’t the end of the world. But every extra month her army was sitting here, it was another month that any of their other enemies had free reign to attack. What if the Starfell Kingdom attacked from the south, while they were all the way up north? Or what if some unknown empire in the north attacked the Wustenreich, forcing her to go up and defend their newly conquered territories?

Absently, her eyes turned to look out over the river, debating the merits of trying another naval invasion. It had worked last time, hadn’t it?

She shook her head. No, no, she shouldn’t think like that. Beyond lacking enough boats for a repeat of that battle, there was no way they hadn’t prepared for her this time. It had only gone so well last time because it was a sneak attack against an unprepared and practically undefended city—now, with the city fully aware of her presence and protected by an actual army, she had little chance of pulling that off again.

It was in the middle of this brainstorming session that one of her soldiers came and grabbed her, telling her there was something she needed to see going on in the city.

Arriving at the edge of camp, the soldier pointed at the guard tower above the entrance to the city. But what was she talking about—ah, wait, Meixiu saw it. There was a person there, doing… something.

The person was waving—was that a flag? It was crude and hard to see from so far away, but…

It looked like there was a sun painted on it.

…Could this be? Could this be Gamila? Was she in the city? That was good, but what was she trying to communicate?

Then, the person who was supposedly Gamila pointed down, motioning like… was she playing peekaboo? What did she…

Oh. Oh! Was she saying she’d open the gates? If that was the case…

Meixiu winced, not liking the lack of communication, but deciding to trust her gut in this case.

She raised her spear, hoping she got the message that she understood across, before turning to the soldier next to her.

“Scramble to troops as quickly as possible!” she ordered. “Get everyone armored up and ready to move. Anyone who already is ready, bring them here within the next ten minutes!”

The army couldn’t deploy that quickly—getting a couple hundred people armored and prepped could take hours, if not longer—but the gate would only let a few people at a time in anyway, so it would likely be easier to stagger her army in anyway. Get the people already ready to go in first and hopefully the rest would be ready by the time the first wave was into the city.

Around ten minutes later, she had some fifty people behind her and ready to go. And, hoping beyond hope that the person in the guard tower was really an ally, they began to march.

The walls closed in quickly as they walked, at first slowly in case they needed to retreat, but then faster and faster as they realized they weren’t being fired upon. Glancing up, she noticed that whoever was in the tower was gone.

And then, mere meters away from the walls, the gate suddenly opened, the large wooden doors groaning as they were pushed open by a single woman dressed in enemy colors.

The soldier locked eyes at her, and for the first time in months Meixiu felt relieved to see Gamila’s smiling face.

“Soldiers,” Meixiu ordered, raising her spear. “Into the city, quickly! Take the walls first, before they can respond! If you see any soldiers, rain arrows down on them—if you see any civilians, don’t harm them unless they attack first! You have your orders—go!”

“Yes, General!” came the unified shouts of her soldiers, flooding into the city four at a time. Within seconds of the soldiers breaking in she head them, those accursed drums that had beat the last time she’d took the city, but just like last time they were far, far too late.

“Gamila,” she murmured softly, grasping the other woman by the shoulder. “You’ve come through.”

“Yes, I have,” the other woman grinned, looking so relieved to see her. “It was close, sometimes, but I made it work. I am… I’m so happy to see you again. I know it was important, what I did, but I haven’t been myself in so long that I… I’m just glad it’s almost over, is all. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a truly friendly face.”

Meixiu bit her lip, an odd feeling coming over her. Pushing it aside, she forced herself to focus. “Back to business. Do you know who we’re fighting? Numbers, location? I know Quang is supposed to be somewhere in this city, but…”

“Queen Olivia is dead,” Gamila nodded, looking almost proud. “I killed her myself. Most of her army collapsed with her, only a few made it to this city as reinforcements. There’s only about a hundred or so soldiers in the city—maybe more, if they convince the civilians to fight.”

“I see,” Meixiu nodded to herself, glancing behind her to see the second wave of her army arriving, some twenty more soldiers. “In that case—you there!” she called out to the second wave. “The others are taking the walls—I want you lot with us! We’re taking out the King! Follow me, we head to the palace!”

“Do you want me with you?” Gamila asked softly.

“Yes,” she grunted back. “We’re fighting an immortal, after all—I’d rather we stack the deck in our favor.”

Gamila gave her a solemn nod, and with that, Meixiu led the charge into the city.

--

Meixiu had taken Dàhé before, and so she had a pretty good understanding of its layout. Its walls were built in a square shape from the existing buildings, allowing soldiers to move along the rooftops of those buildings to get from guard tower to guard tower. Each entrance, meanwhile, gave way to a road that lead from the walls directly to the center of the city, carving the city into four distinct quadrants. The palace she remembered was in the northwest quadrant.

As they charged through the city, the only civilians they saw were those fleeing into their homes, which they allowed, moving past them without blinking. They also ran into two groups of soldiers—one of which proved themselves smart and fled on sight, likely trying to group up with the rest of their army, while the other group attacked, allowing her to defeat them by bogging them down in dense, urban combat that they weren’t trained to handle.

As they ran, Gamila broke off at one point circling around with the plan to meet up with her again from another direction.

And in what felt like no time at all, they arrived at the palace.

Which, unfortunately, was also where most of the army had grouped up.

Upon seeing her soldiers charging up, the enemy soldiers put up a defensive wall, shields at the ready and spears pointing forward.

Raising a hand, Meixiu stopped her own charge, flicking her wrist and having her soldiers adopt a turtle formation, in case any bowmen were hiding behind enemy lines. And so, the two groups squared off against one another, any advantage in numbers rendered moot by the thin roads of the city.

Fortunately, she had an advantage on her side, in the form of a single, unkillable soldier wearing the enemy’s colors.

Screams erupted from the back of the opposing army, a faint roar of “TRAITOR” echoing throughout the city. The guards at the front wavered, their spears drooping slightly as some of them turned to figure out what was going on behind them—

Which was when the soldiers she’d sent to take the walls attacked, arrows flying overhead as her soldiers pelted them from the rooftops.

And, with the enemy formation well and truly shattered, she motioned for her army to charge.

The battle that followed couldn’t be called anything but a slaughter—for both sides. Much as she might not wanted to admit it, her own soldiers weren’t much better prepared for urban combat than the enemy, just somewhat more experienced. And so any semblance of coherency shattered once the two sides clashed.

Looking back on it, she might have been better off waiting for her archers on the rooftops to pick them off, rather than jumping straight to melee.

She shoved her way through the chaotic skirmish, stabbing and punching and shoving at anyone who looked like an enemy. At some point she realized her spear wasn’t working in such cramped quarters, and dropped it in favor of her dagger, slashing her way closer to the palace as she did so.

At one point she slashed an enemy soldier across the face, only for them to stumble back and hiss, “Gah! Fucking—Wait, wait! Meixiu! It’s me!”

Meixiu lowered her dagger, only to take a shield to the back of her skull for her moment of distraction.

“Gamila,” she grunted, wincing. “Sorry about that. I didn’t—well, okay, I did mean to do it. Just not to you.”

“I—” she spun around, stabbing wildly behind her to force back another soldier. “—know! But I know—fuck—I know where Quang is! There’s a back door in the palace—he’s trying to escape the city!”

“Mother of—” Meixiu spat, shoving her way through the crowd. “We need to—grk—we need to catch up with him! Before he gets away!”

With a nod, Gamila joined up with her, helping her shove her way through the bloody mess the battle had become. And, what felt like an eternity later, they burst into the palace, ready to fight their way to the enemy King.

But the palace was empty. Nothing but a few wounded soldiers hiding from the battle raging outside.

The King was gone.

“Shit,” Meixiu hissed, running through the palace. “Where did you say this backdoor was?”

“I don’t know!” Gamila shouted back frantically. “But—wait, there’s only two ways he’d be able to get out of the city, right? The south or west gates. We should forget the palace and run there!”

“He might have also tried to escape by boat,” Meixiu frowned, but ran out of the palace regardless. “You check west, I’ll check south. One of us should catch him that way.”

“Or get caught ourselves!” Gamila shot back. “We may be immortal, but we aren’t gods—we can still be overwhelmed by numbers! We go together or not at all.”

Meixiu bit her lip, but nodded. “Fine. Together. We’ll check the west gate, that’s the closest one. Come on!”

A few minutes of running later, they arrived at the west gate, but found nothing. Then they ran to the south gate, but once more found nothing. They were about to check the docks, when one of her soldiers called down from atop the walls.

The battle was over. The enemy soldiers had either been killed or surrendered, and her soldiers were spreading out to look for remnants throughout the rest of the city. They’d won.

But…

Even though they’d taken the city, shattered his army, and conquered his kingdom, King Quang was nowhere to be found.

9,895 God-Kings Remain